Shanxi: 2153
by Star Fata
Summary: What if Shanxi happened before Shepard and co were born? This is Hannah Shepard's story. Deviates from Canon severely. T for language and suggestive/disturbing themes.
1. Attack and capture

**AN- I have no idea where this came from. Posssible sequel in the works, now I've just got to finish this. Please r&r. This is the story of Hannah Shepard, my Femshep's mother. She's young, 19/20. Her backstory will be revealed as the story unfolds.**

Lance Corporal Hannah Shepard had been stationed on Shanxi for nearly six months when the expedition sent through the relay was wiped out, except for a lone ship. She'd remained on the Shanxi garrison, ready for action, but not really expecting it. After the reinforcements had been sent off, she had mostly just been grateful that her pain-in-the-ass CO had gone with them. He'd come back though, sooner than she would have liked. It wasn't that she wished the man dead, she just wished he was alive somewhere else; preferably somewhere far away from her.

It was when the enemy reinforcements arrived that she was hit with the realities of war. Her unit had been separated from the garrison early on, and communications were infrequent. She spared a thought for General Williams, he was a good man and a good Commander. She knew that he took the loss of any men under his command personally, and that he took the loss of civilian lives under his protection even worse. Judging by what she'd seen so far, the man wouldn't be sober for a week after this was over.

It would be over eventually, she reasoned. Maybe she'd even be alive to see it.

"Lance Corporal?" Captain Fischer asked.

"Yes Sir?" She asked, bringing her attention back to proceedings.

The way he looked at her sent alarm bells ringing and a chill done her spine. He ordered her to get some sleep, as she was on the second watch.

When she was woken for her watch, she was tired and cranky. Nonetheless, Hannah Shepard knew her duty. Her watch was uneventful, until around four in the morning when she went to wake the third Watchman. She froze as something chemical reached her on the wind, mixed with a scent she knew far too well. 'Fischer!'

She heard the creak of new boots as he lunged, putting a cloth over her mouth. She pretended to go limp after seconds of struggling, but he held the cloth there long enough that a normal woman would have definitely been unconscious. This wasn't the first time he'd knocked someone out with that method.

The implications made her sick. As he lay her back onto the grass, she remained limp, allowing the fresh air to clear her mind slightly. It wasn't until the bastard's hands were on her zipper that she reacted, lashing out with the powerful right hook that had made her infamous in her hometown. The second he was down, she stood, every nerve tensed for action.

"Captain?" A voice called. The third watchman looked at the scene in front of him, as Corporal Hannah Shepard stared at him in shock. "Captain!" He cried. "Shepard took out the Captain!"

She opened her mouth to deny it when her peripheral vision caught movement on her left. She reached out and broke Fischer's arm with ease, realizing too late that she'd played into his hands. As the first bullets started flying, she ran. They wouldn't be able to follow her in the dark woodlands, not unless they stopped to grab their night gear.

She could outrun them. Not for the first time in her life, she thanked her father for her modifications.

It was easy to slip into thoughtlessness, to give reign to her instincts. The steady, light thumping of her feet as she ran through seemingly infinite trees, occasionally interrupted as she jumped over ditches and tree trunks, in her way.

As she neared a slope, she prepared to roll, the lessen the impact on her knees. Just as she was beginning to curl, a strong grasp on her arm pulled her towards an armoured chest, trapping her. Panic shot through her like lightning, and she reared backwards to headbutt her assailant. Stars erupted in her vision, and she stumbled out of the cage-like arms. Spinning around to face her attacker, she blinked. It wasn't Fischer! It wasn't human, and she _should _really be scared shitless at this point, but it wasn't Fischer!

She blinked again, and the number of human-raptor aliens decreased. There were two, one a distinctly purple colour that reminded her of the purple foxgloves on the path near her mother's observatory, and the other a dark colour that she couldn't discern in the shadowed light.

She blinked again, and the world faded away as she fell.


	2. Awakening

**AN- I specialise in short but regular updates. Once a story is finished, I go back and edit it by joining several chapters together. Enjoy this short chapter.**

Slowly, she came back to herself. The muted mechanical sounds around her, coupled with a hard surface beneath her and a distinctly sterile quality to the air led her to believe she was in a med-bay.

Groaning, she blinked her eyes open. There was no one there. Frowning, she sat up, and soon regretted it. Flinching her eyes shut in a vague attempt to stop the room from spinning, she froze. Forcing herself to take sharp, controlled breaths through her mouth, she listened. There was someone behind her, walking towards her bed. She'd say it was a medic, but the sound of their boots was odd. Almost like the click of high heels, mixed with the clang of metal boots.

She twisted around and opened her eyes to see who it was. Her body protested, stomach lurching. She caught a flash of metallic purple as she leaned over her bed, trying not to throw up on her bed. As she finished expelling what felt like everything she'd ever eaten, she gasped for breath, wiping her mouth with the edge of her blanket. Raising her head, she saw clawed feet. Looking further up, she saw one of the same aliens she'd run into before she'd passed out.

They stared at each other for a long moment, before Hannah flopped back onto the bed. _'What am I supposed to do, throw up on him? I'll panic later.'_

Closing her eyes, she rested her head on the pillow. The alien stayed still for a long moment, before the click-clang noise resumed. He stopped near her head on the left, the other side of the bed from where she'd unceremoniously vomited. She opened her eyes to stare at him.

The mandibles on his face fluttered. Maybe she'd annoyed him? Decaying food and stomach acid was never a nice smell. Or maybe he was confused? Either way, it was her doing. She smirked at him, enjoying his agitation.

Leaning back against the pillows, she let herself drift off again.


	3. A Curiosity

**AN- I decided that we needed a turian scene. The 'humanity' thing will be explained later.**

"You say she woke up?" Lieutenant Vetus Scavelo inquired. "How did she respond?"

Arval responded dryly. "There was a surprising lack of screaming. She attempted to sit up, so I moved towards her to push her back down. She turned to see me, vomited, stared at me and went back to sleep."

The Lieutenant shifted. "Perhaps her collision with Pallin caused more damage than initially thought."

Arval snorted. "I don't think so." As an experienced field medic, Arval had a better idea about concussion than most, and was able to apply his vast experience to this new, dangerously stubborn species. "Her symptoms are similar to what an asari would be going through. Mild concussion with shock. She just happens to be dealing with her fear better than most."

"I agree." Cato Pallin spoke up. "I'd say she's been trained to deal with unsettling events, or that she's used to doing so." Cato's elder brother had left the military the year before Cato had left boot camp. While Venari had been a lauded marksman, Cato was the more shrewd of the brothers. Cato was also the more personable, which had led to an odd position as the ship's unofficial watchdog, checking for misdemeanours on duty and signs of stress. Now that their ship had been repurposed to carry prisoners, he watched out for them.

"What makes you say that?" The Lieutenant asked, genuinely curious.

Cato's reply was more formal than his friend's. "I looked at the security footage. These humanity's are remarkably like asari, especially the females. Going by this resemblance, she was amused that she'd unsettled Arval. That doesn't seem like shock to me."

They all stood there in silence. "An unknown enemy has taken her prisoner, and she was amused by one of them?" Scavelo stated. "I find that hard to believe, but if you're sure..."

"I am." Cato affirmed.

"Well. It may have been just a fluke, but I'm assigning a guard duty. A calm prisoner could be a greater threat than all the others put together." Lieutenant Scavelo decided.

"I'll take babysitting duty." Arval volunteered. "This one might actually be interesting."

Cato shot a glare at his best friend. "I don't think they're **that** much like asari."

"_Not_ what I meant." Arval defended, almost angrily. "I'm just saying that the other prisoner's are a headache. This one's a curiosity."

"Oh? Is there anything I should know?" Scavelo inquired.

"I can't pinpoint any one thing, especially since we don't know much about her species as a whole." Arval stated. "But I can guarantee she's different from every other humanity on this ship."


	4. Turian

**AN- According to my Stats, no one's read anything but the first chapter. Please review, if only to prove my stats page wrong.**

This time, when she woke up, she kept her eyes shut. The back of her head ached slightly, but apart from that she was fine. Listening carefully, she could tell she was in a different room to where she'd woken up. The bed underneath her was more worn, and her body rested in the slight cocoon of someone else's body shape.

Hannah opened her eyes and looked around, being careful to move as little as possible. She seemed to be in a small bedroom, with her bed being against the wall furthest from the door. Moving her head, she saw a desk, with the chair occupied by the same purple human-raptor she saw earlier. At least, she thought it was the same alien... She could barely see the thin white markings on his jaw.

"So you're awake." A deep, rumbling voice stated. Startled, she twisted slightly. The other captor leaned against a wall, nonchalant and seemingly uninterested.

In the light, she could see that underneath his white markings, he was a dark brown, like tree-bark or compost.

"I wonder if she can talk?" The other mused. "She hasn't made a sound since she got here."

Hannah turned her head again, glaring at the alien. "There hasn't been much to say." She said, through gritted teeth.

Alien or not, Hannah could recognize laughter when she heard it. "Guess that answers that question. What's your name, humanity?"

"What?" Hannah asked, reflexively.

The dark alien stepped forward. "What's your name?"

Her eyes darted between them. They'd placed themselves at different ends of the room to unsettle her, she deduced. So she couldn't keep them both in her sights at once. Smart, just the kind of tactic her father would have used. In fact, this was distinctly like the day after the first (and last) time she'd come home drunk. Her parents had been **much** more intimidating, claws or no claws.

Perhaps the use of 'humanity' instead of 'human' was to throw her off. It had, but not in a way that'd help them in an interrogation. Theory dismissed, as her father would say. They thought it was correct. Should she enlighten them?

"I'm Hannah." She answered. "And humanity refers to all humans. I'm just one human." She sent them her best smile, the one that used to get her out of trouble in school. "Just for future reference."

The dark one let out a chuckle. "We'll remember. We're turians, just for future reference."

Her smile turned savage. "I'll remember."


End file.
